Fire-door.



- PAIENTED DEC. 15, 1903.

G. E. SIMPSON.

FIRE DOOR.

APPLICATION 31mm mm 15, 1903.

I10 MODEL.

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Patented December 15, 1903.

PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES E.- SIMPSON, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

FIRE-DOOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 746,885, dated December15, 1903.

Application filed June 15, 1903.

To all whom, it'may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES E; SIMPSON, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fire-Doors; and Ido hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription thereof, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings,and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part ofthis specification.

This invention relates to improvements in fire-doors and, as shown, tometallic doors designed for use in divisional walls.

The object of the invention is to provide a fire-door of simpleconstruction having secured thereto means for automatically closing andsecurely fastening the same when the temperature of the air in the roomhas reached a predetermined degree.

The invention consists of the matters hereinafter described, and morefully pointed out and defined in the appended claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a device embodying myinvention, showing the same in its normal position. Fig. 2 is a similarview showing the automatic closing mechanism in the act of closing thedoor. Fig. 3 is an enlarged front elevation of the trip mechanism in itssupporting position. Fig. at is a side elevation of the same. Fig. 5 isa front elevation of the same, showing the 'trip released. Fig. 6 is aside elevation of the catch for the door-latch. Fig. 7 is a'view of afusible link or thermostat embodied in my invention.

' As shown in my drawings, A indicates a wall of any desired materialhaving an openingtherethrough, toclose which it is desired to provide anau tomatically-closin g fire-door. As shown, said wall is of brick, andsaid opening is provided with a metallic frame a in a familiar manner.On one side of said frame are secured the in wardly-projecting catches aa rigidly secured in said frame and projecting into the room orcompartment in which the door swings. On the opposite side of the frameare provided the apertured lugs a a ia as shown, three in number andlocated near the middle and near the top and bottom of said frame andeach forming one member of the Serial No. 161,437. (No modeLl hinge. Thedoor is provided with an equal number of transverse straps b Z) W, whichproject beyond the margin of the door and are each provided with a boltor pin adapted to engage in the aperture in the corresponding lugs a aor a and together therewith form the hinges. Extending beyondthe-opposite margin of the door are the latches b 13 the outer or freeends of which are adapted to engage the catches a a Said latches aredesirably of considerable length and are pivoted at their inner ends andconnected by means of the bar or strap 5 the opposite ends of which arepivotally secured to the respective latches in such a mannerthatmovement in one of said latches produces a corresponding movement in theother. A handle?) of any desirable form is preferably secured upon saidbar or strap, whereby said latches may be raised in opening the door.For the purpose of automatically closing said door in the event of fireor such a vchange of tempera-' ture as would indicate fire a tripmechanism is provided on one side of said door, near the top thereof,comprising a base E, rigidly secured on the wall and provided at itslower end with the outwardly-projecting lugs e, between which is pivotedthe trip-lever E, at the lower end of which is the outwardly-projectinghook e. The upper end of said triplever is provided-with a relativelybroad plate e parallel with the base E when the trip-lever is in itssupporting position. E indicates an apertured latch pivoted on saidbase, as shown in Figs. 3 and 5, and adapted to swing laterally andprovided with a spring a which normally holds said latch in the positionindicated in Fig. 3. On the rear side of said plate c is rigidly securedthe rearwardly and laterally directed arm E having at its outer end aroller which engages on the rear side of said latch when the trip-leveris in its supporting position, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4, so that whensaid latch is moved laterally said arm is released thereby and the tripis permitted to fall. As shown, said latch is provided with anupwardly-extending projection e ,'which engages behind a pin e extendingparallel with the top of the base and secured in a lug integral with thebase. Said pin acts to support the latch against downwardstrain on thetrip-lever. Means are provided for releasing said trip-lever, comprisingthe pulleys D 1), weight D and thermostat or fusible link D whichoperate as follows: The chains d d are each secured at one end to saidweight D and pass, respectively, over the pulleys D D and are secured tothe projection e and the thermostat D and are respectively ofsuch lengththat said weight is normally supported on the chain d and thethermostat-link alone, while the chain passing to the latch is slack. AWeight F, as shown, is supported by means of the spring fandtackle-blocks c and c on the hook e of the trip-lever. The block 0, asshown, is a double block and the block 0 is single, and the chain orother flexible connection 0 is rove therethrough, the inner end thereofbeing secured to the strap at the top of the block 0. The other endthereof passes through sheaves c and 0 located to lead the connectiontoa point above and near the mid dle of the door and is secured on a lugc rigidly secured on the door. The inner end of the supporting-chain ismoved upwardly, as shown in Fig. 1, to form a bight which is passed overthe hook e of the tripping-lever. As shown, an enlarged ring or link issecured in said chain at said point to afford better means for engagingsaid hook. As shown, said weight F, the tackle therefor, and the tripmechanism are inclosed in a box or casing to protect the same frominjury. The weight F is about a third heavier than sufficient to closethe door when suspended over the sheave 0 As shown in Fig. 1, however,the same being supported-on three strands of the line or chain, two ofwhich lead to the trip mechanism, less than one-third of the gravity ofthe weight iseffective on the door, which is insufficient to close it,and as a result the door will remain in any position in which it may beplaced, either open or closed. The door being open and the temperaturehaving risen to a point sufficient to fuse the link D the weight Dfalls, jerking upon the chain d,and pulls the latch E laterally againstthe action of the spring e to the position shown in Fig. 5, therebyreleasing the upper end of the trip-lever. Inasmuch as the hook 6projects forwardly out of alinement with its pivot, the gravity of theweight F and the tackle a and o of the chains pulls the tripleverdownwardly until the bight of the chain slips from said hook, whereuponthe weight F and tackleblocks fall to the position indicated in Fig. 2and jerk violently upon the tween said doors as they close, which inordinary construction acts to resist the closing of one or both of thedoors. The spring f aids in effectively closing against such aircashion,inasmuch as it causes the weight to vibrate up and down, giving asuccession of jerks on the chain, said successive impulse aidingmaterially in closing the door.

As a further improvement I have so constructed the catches a 0. that theupper latch b which is close to the point of attachment with the chain,engages on the catch a before the latch 19 engages on the catch (1 Forthis purpose said catch a is constructed longer than the catch a and theupper surface thereof is provided with a gradual slope or inclination,so that when the latch b ongages thereon the latch b is supported abovethe catch a as shown in Fig. 2, and only engages the same when bothlatches drop into the respective notches in said catches.

Obviously other forms of tripping devices may be employed, if preferred,than those herein described and other form of construction of fusiblelink or thermostat may be embodied in my invention. The tripping meansmay be actuated by any familiar means to permit the descent of theweight F. So, too, if preferred, sliding doors may be employed insteadof a hinged door with the same effect and for the same purpose, andfloor-openings, as well as openings in side divisional walls, may beclosed by doors operated in accordance with my invention.

Many details of construction may be varied without departing from theprinciple of my invention.

I claim as my invention 1. In an automatic closing device for doors andthe like a weight normally supported, partly on a door and partly on atrip mechanism, by means of a spring, and when so supported insufiicientto close the door, and thermally operated means to release said tripmechanism whereby said weight is supported wholly on said door and infalling exerts a plurality of impulses.

2. A closing mechanism for doors and the like comprising a flexibleconnection,engaged at one end upon the door and at the other upon a tripmechanism, a weight supported on said flexible connection and normallyin position to close the door, a fusible link, a flexible connectionbetween said link and said trip mechanism, a weight supported thereonnormally free from said trip mechanism and adapted when the link isfused to actuate the trip mechanism and release the aforesaid weight andclose said door.

3. A closing mechanism for doors and the like, comprising incombination, a trip mechanism, a weight, a flexible connection, reevedabout a tackle suspended from the trip mechanism and attached at one endto the door, a weight secured by a spring to the lowermost block of saidtackle, automatic means for releasing said trip mechanism and permittingthe weights to fall, thereby exerting the entire gravity thereof uponthe door and acting to close the same.

4. A self-closing mechanism for doors or the like comprising a tripmechanism, a Weight supported normally free therefrom, a fusible linkconnected therewith, a flexible connection rigidly secured at one endupon the door and at the other detachably engaged on trip mechanism, aweight movably supported thereon normally partly from the door andpartly from the trip mechanism andadapted when said link is fused toexert its full weight upon the door and means for breaking the impact ofthe fall of said weight.

5. In a device of the class described a trip mechanism, a flexibleconnection detachably engaged at one end on said trip mechanism scribedmy name in the presence of two sub- 30 scribing witnesses.

CHARLES E. SIMPSON.

' In presence of O. W. HILLS, A. C. ODELL.

